Tom Moore and Matthew Field size up the immediate impact of the vote on City lawyers
It was the result the profession and the City feared but did not expect as the referendum on European Union (EU) membership on 23 June ended in a shock vote to exit the grouping, triggering political and market shocks set to reverberate for years to come.
DLA Piper misses out as bank sets out new categories
Barclays picked a raft of firms, including Clifford Chance, Ashurst, Simmons & Simmons, Hogan Lovells and Reed Smith, as the banking giant overhauled its global roster last month and slashed its number of go-to advisers by over 60%.
Continue reading “Barclays slashes number of firms by over 60% in global review”
City lawyers faced the wrath of MPs during May and June in an inquiry over the sale of BHS. The April collapse of the retailer, following its sale by Sir Philip Green’s Arcadia Group for £1 to Dominic Chappell’s Retail Acquisitions, caused political fallout for advisers on the deal, including law firms.
Partners from Olswang, Linklaters, Eversheds and Nabarro all appeared before a joint committee of MPs from the Work and Pensions and the Business, Innovation and Skills departments.
Allen & Overy (A&O)’s growing private equity (PE) team has had a strong year, topping Dealogic’s European PE table after advising on 31 deals across the 2015 calendar year for clients including Apollo Global Management, The Blackstone Group and Carlyle Investment Management. The firm advised on deals equal to 21% of the European buyout market last year, acting on $23.95bn worth of deals.
The A&O team, led by co-heads Stephen Lloyd (pictured), Karine Kodde and Robin Harvey, edged out Magic Circle counterparts as well as US firms in the City.
Continue reading “Allen & Overy beats UK rivals to top 2015 deal table for European private equity”
Axiom and Ashurst follow with similar service to meet regulations
In the first marquee joint venture between a Magic Circle firm and a Big Four accountant, Allen & Overy (A&O) and Deloitte have teamed up to create a tech-driven service to help banks handle post-Lehman regulation.
Both Linklaters and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer scored lead roles on an attempt by South Africa’s Steinhoff International Holdings to take over British retailer Poundland. Steinhoff, a $22bn homeware and clothing conglomerate, made a bid to take over Poundland, which it already had a 23.26% stake in. At press time, Poundland had rejected Steinhoff’s initial bid, but Steinhoff upped its holding in the UK discount retailer to 23.52%.
Steinhoff already owns PEP, which sells discount clothing, footwear and homeware across 1,800 stores in Africa, as well as UK chain Harveys Furniture.
Allen & Overy (A&O) and Slaughter and May have advised on the acquisition of British electronics company Premier Farnell by Swiss manufacturer Dätwyler for £615m.
A&O advised Leeds-based Premier Farnell, while Slaughters acted for Dätwyler on the transaction.
Announced in June, the deal sees London-listed Premier Farnell, which produces the Raspberry Pi single-board minicomputer, join the Swiss multinational. The deal is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2016.
Continue reading “Magic Circle firms lead on £615m Swiss takeover of British electronics company”
The alliance will see all UK work referred to Bond Dickinson
With US merger plays by Addleshaw Goddard and Berwin Leighton Paisner dominating headlines so far this year, last month mid-market UK national firm Bond Dickinson signed an exclusive strategic alliance with full-service US firm Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice.
The deal means that Womble Carlyle, which has operated on a non-exclusive referral basis with Bond Dickinson for approximately six years, will refer all UK work to the firm and vice versa.
Continue reading “American dream: Bond Dickinson seals exclusive tie-up with Womble Carlyle”
Ashurst closed the doors to two of its European offices in June, confirming it will dissolve its Swedish offering with the entire team of 30 staff in its Stockholm office moving to Hamilton.
The firm will also close its base in Rome with its remaining lawyers relocating to Milan following a review of its Italian offering after a string of exits. The fate of the office was sealed following the resignation of the Rome office’s sole partner Aian Abbas.
Continue reading “Ashurst retreats in Europe, closing Stockholm and Rome”
NORTON ROSE FULBRIGHT AND A&O LEAD NUCLEAR JV
Continue reading “Deal watch: Corporate activity in June 2016”
